Killed in Quetta, Taliban leader buried in Zabul

KABUL (PAN): A senior insurgent commander, Noorullah Hotak who was shot dead in Pakistan by unidentified gunmen, has been laid to rest in southern Afghanistan, a media report said on Saturday.

Hotak was gunned down in the Pashtunabad locality of Quetta the capital of southwestern Balochistan province, on Thursday when the Taliban blamed the Afghan intelligence agency for their leader's assassination.

On Friday, he was buried in the southern province of Zabul, a Pakistani newspaper quoted a Taliban leader as saying. “We are sure it's the handiwork of the Afghan government and its intelligence agents."

The Express Tribune, citing an Afghan security official, reported that Hotak was an active Taliban commander and member of Quetta Shura. But the Taliban rejected the claim as baseless.

Hotak was the second Afghan Taliban commander murdered in Quetta, where senior insurgent leader Mullah Ismail was also killed last month.

On November 10, armed motorcyclists shot dead Nasiruddin Haqqani, a leader of the Taliban-affiliated Haqqani Network, in the Bara Koh area on the outskirts of Islamabad.